He inserts a single tape in an old ca.s.sette player. Thereafter a recorded voice says the following,

'The date: Sat.u.r.day, 29th March 2008.

The time: 8:00 am

Your mission Dylan, should you choose to accept it is to successfully make Irene's birthday the greatest of all time.

As always, should you or any of your team be caught or killed, the Author will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Dylan.'

5

4

3

2

1

*Poof*

Well that was anti-climactic.

Anyway where were we?

It's Irene's birthday today and I plan to take her on a real first date. I've been looking forward to this for weeks. I've fully planned today out down to the second and the detail.

I even dressed up today. A handmade Italian white s.h.i.+rt with a blue denim form fitting jeans and a pair of dark colored Prada chelsea boots.

I leave for Irene's place and decide to take the M3 convertible BMW today. Once there I press the front doorbell and wait for a response.

Not too long after I hear the door open and can hear footsteps hurrying towards gate. I grow a little more nervous the closer the person comes.

The gate swings open and without a second for me to adjust, the voice of a small girl catches me by surprise.

"Oppa, unnie says she will be taking a while longer! Come in"

I'm startled and just nod my head. I follow chae-hyun inside where I am greeted by her mother. Seems like her dad is already out for the day.

I hand Mrs Bae the roses I brought along.

"Thank you Dylan, it's beautiful"

I smile and say "It's nothing Mrs. Bae"

Like any concerned parent she asks me a few questions about what we are going to do today and makes me promise not to stay out late.

She then heads off inside to do some housework, I suppose. And leaves me to my own devices in the lounge. I wonder around for a bit and find myself taking everything in. This house no home really has a lived in feel.

Pictures of the family can be found adorned everywhere with trinkets of time spread throughout. I find a picture of Irene from elementary school. She is sitting amongst of a crowd of older family members. She's wearing a pink s.h.i.+rt and dark colored jeans, her hair is parted down the middle and she is biting her lips. I'm really wondering who dressed her. She looks like pretty boy.

I guess the rumor that Irene's stylist hates her, dates back to the beginning of time. There are rumors that her coordinator is an anti, you know.

While I'm 'admiring' Irene's past oblivious to my surroundings. Someone taps me on the shoulder and I turn to see who it is.

A girl with light makeup and a deep red lipstick stands behind me. She's wearing a teal two peace dress which just screams summer. Her dark hair is loose and hanging down to her shoulders only being tired together by a white hair band.

I'm temporarily left stunned, tongue tied and twisted. It takes me a whole five seconds before I finally utter a single syllable, "Wow"

At this point I am full on ogling her but can you blame me?

"Good morning", she says.

I reciprocate her greetings ,"Morning" and add "You look amazing today, anything special planned?"

She laughs and proceeds to unjustly hit me on the shoulder quite hard, "You clean up pretty well yourself"

We share a small smile and she edges closer to take a look at what is in my hands. I hand the photograph over to her and she reminisces about the time,

"This was a good day" she says, "You see the guy with hair? Thats my dad, the one next to him is my uncle and in the background you can see my mom. She was pregnant with Chae-hyun at that time. I really thought that my mom's stomach was going to burst. And it really did! Her water burst just a couple of minutes after. You can technically say this is the first photo of Chae-hyun."

This is the first time she's really shared a story about her family with me so I just listen patiently. I continue to listen to various anecdotes from her past finding it fascinating the more I hear. Yes, it's just an ordinary childhood but I never had one, therefore living vicariously through her memories is something I'm really grateful for.

We chat and look at pictures for the next half hour. The fastest half hour of my life.

Her mother enters the room once more and proceeds to question

"When are you guys going out? or will you be spending your whole day at home. Not that I mind"

Irene realizes the time and blushes when she remembers how much she just talked and all that she has told me. Clearly she wasn't planning to show me so much, so soon.

Embarra.s.singly she says goodbye to her mother and chae-hyun and drags me outside as fast as she can. All the while I am just trying to keep pace but can't help finding the whole situation quite funny.

Once under the 'not-so' cover of the car, I lock the doors and turn to her and finally say

"Happy birthday" I smile

"Thank you"

I start the vehicle and before we set-off I slowly lean over. I reach for the seat belt and give it a slight tug. As i'm pulling our faces come into near contact and we make eye-contact which causes the both of us to turn red. The moment is short however as I quickly find the clip before returning back to my seat.

I then try to hide all my nervousness and say "Let's go"

I see her clutching the seatbelt shyly before she nods and repeats what I said but in a much more demure tone , "Let's ...go"